Progressive Practice Drills

Transcription

1 The San Francisco Billiard Academy Presents: Progressive Practice Drills SFBA What a feeling to shoot better and consistently. We ll show you the way. c 009, 0 San Francisco Billiard Academy

2 Progressive Practice Drills Goal: Improve cue ball control and basic aiming with structured drills. Technique: Shoot a shot that needs a specific skill, and if successful, make the next shot harder, but if not successful, make the next shot easier. After ten or so shots, note your skill level. Examples: Two spin drills: 8 Shoot between the two far balls, and hit the numbered group. 8 Cue ball in hand, spin to get to each location within nine inches (a hand span). San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

3 Progressive Practice permits precise pocketing percentage predictions. By Bob Jewett, originally published in Billiards Digest, Dec. 99 The progressive practice method described below has big advantages over standard drills. It automatically adjusts the difficulty of the shots to match your improvement, it lets you measure your percentage for each kind of shot without any bookkeeping, and it allows you to easily compare your performance on a particular table or day with previous practice sessions. It s adaptable to many kinds of aiming and position drills. Let s start with a draw drill. In figure, the object ball is always near the long rail just out of the pocket jaws. Start with the cue ball in position, one diamond from the corner. The goal is to draw the cue ball back at least to. Each time you get enough draw, move the cue ball a diamond further back. For example, if you make the shot from, the next shot is from and you have to draw the cue ball back at least to. If you do, try next. When you miss either the shot or the draw, the cue ball goes half a diamond closer to the object ball. If you miss at, your next shot is from., or half way between and. Continue adjusting the distance after each shot until you ve pocketed all balls. Note your final position. The reason for the big steps at first is to get you fairly quickly to a shot difficulty that is somewhat challenging for you. Let s grade the result. If you ended at or, you get a B for beginner. A few minutes of instruction from the local pool professor should be beneficial. If you ended between and, you get an A for average. That s enough draw for most draw situations. If you ended between and the end rail, chalk up an E for enough for nearly all draw shots. Because you make each shot a diamond easier or harder if you miss or make the shot, the final position is close to your 0% success point. Shorter distances are better than even money for you, while at longer distances the odds are against you. If you want to know your 0-0 point more accurately, redo the drill starting from your last position but change the distance only a San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

4 quarter-diamond each time. The smaller changes result in a smaller error in the measurement. A somewhat easier progressive drill using the same position is a stop shot. The goal is to pocket the object ball and leave the cue ball within a diamond of the pocket. Ideally the cue ball won t move at all after it hits the object ball. If you need a harder drill, draw the cue back to within a hand span of its starting position. You lose for too much or too little draw or wandering away from the rail. Put your thumb tip on the nose of the rail where the cue started. Your little finger must reach to the cue ball for the shot to be good. Very tough to get to. A pure aiming drill is shown in figure. The object ball starts on the spot, and the cue ball is a diamond from the rail. Above average players will be able to turn the corner at position. The usual way to practice spot shots is to play from the same position over and over with the dangers of boredom and grooving the aim to a single specific shot. The shots under progressive practice continuously change and force you to aim anew each time. The 0-0 point gives a good mix of challenge and reward which results in rapid improvement, but the system can be modified to find other percentages. To find the point at which you make / and miss / of the time, simply make the position two notches easier when you miss and one notch tougher when you make (where a notch might be a quarter diamond). When you ve settled in on the % distance, you ll make two for each one you miss and have no net motion. While you re at it, don t forget your other side! The draw drill will be extra tough on the side of the table where it requires either a bridge or shooting wrong-handed. Either way, you can find out how much accuracy you lose on your weak side. For the spot shot, there should be very little difference in the two sides. If there is consistently a large difference, there is likely a fundamental flaw in your aiming or stroke and it s time to get back to basics. In the five extended sets of drills below, log your results, multiplying by the level to get your total score. If you usually end at position or better on every shot on a level, move on to the next level unless you want an easier warm-up. San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

5 Figure 9 Cue ball positions Figure 9 Cue ball positions San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

6 A STOP Leave the cue ball in the square. Do not touch the end rail. The arrows indicate the object ball does not move and the cue ball moves away to make the shot harder. Small adjustments to or away from the side rail are permitted for easier bridging. B FOLLOW Level shown. Follow forward to leave the cue ball in the shaded area. Cue and object ball are always one diamond apart -- they move together. C DRAW D CUT Draw back at least one diamond. It s OK if the cue ball also moves to the side, but that wastes energy and makes the shot harder. Object ball is inch off the rail. (or a thumb) San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

7 A STOP B FOLLOW Level shown. Leave the cue ball within 9 inches of object ball location. (That s roughly the span of your stretched-out hand.) Leave the cue ball in the shaded area. Do not scratch. C DRAW D CUT Draw back at least as far as the starting point. Object ball is one ball off the rail. San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

8 A STOP B FOLLOW Level shown. Leave the cue ball overlapping the phantom cue ball. Follow to scratch. Hint: be very careful with cue ball placement left/right. C DRAW D CUT Draw back as far as the start but no more than two diamonds extra. Hint: the center of your goal is about where your bridge hand is on each shot. Object ball is one ball off the rail. Place the cue ball for a rail bridge and even with the current diamond. San Francisco Billiard Academy Page

9 A Free cue ball -- place it where you will. The OB is two balls off the rail. STOP AKA stun shot B,, FOLLOW Leave the cue ball within 9 of the goal position. Leave the cue ball within 9 of the goal. and require the end rail. C DRAW D CUT Cue ball is in hand behind the line. Leave the cue ball here. San Francisco Billiard Academy Page 8

10 A, STOP B,,,8, Cue ball in hand, leave it within 9 of the goal. This is also called a stun shot. Leave the cue ball within of goal. Use a rail bridge. C DRAW D Cue ball for 8 Cue ball is in hand in the kitchen. Object ball is one ball off the cushion. CUT Leave the cue ball in the box. Use a rail bridge. For - 8, line up the cue ball, the object ball and the numbered ball in a straight line, shooting from the end rail. 8 San Francisco Billiard Academy Page 9

11 Progressive Practice Log Name Date Set # A B C D Total Score Comment San Francisco Billiard Academy Page 0